Competition and Markets Authority Chairman

Lord Clement-Jones Excerpts

Monday 27th January 2025 Lords Chamber

[Lord Clement-Jones (LD)]

My Lords, I welcome the Minister to Questions. The Chancellor has said that every regulator, no matter in what sector, has a part to play by tearing down the regulatory barriers that hold back growth. Given the Minister’s background, she will understand the benefits of strong and healthy competition in the digital economy, particularly for SMEs. What assurance can she give the House that the sacking of the chair of the CMA and the appointment of Doug Gurr, a former country head of Amazon, which itself is subject to current and recent CMA investigations, will not lead to weaker competition and consumer protection enforcement? Are the Government still committed to the new digital markets regime that we have all taken several years to install? Are they now going soft on US big tech in a whole range of digital services—operating systems, app stores, browsers, search engines, digital advertising and cloud services—or are we meant now to include our UK SMEs among the so-called blockers?

[Baroness Gustafsson (Lab)]

I thank the noble Lord for his question, which I have broken down into four points that I hope to address. First, I thank him for his welcome; it is very much appreciated, and it is a pleasure to be here answering questions in front of noble Lords. Secondly, I do not accept the characterisation of us sacking the chair of the CMA; Marcus Bokkerink resigned as chair and the Government are committed to the operational independence of the CMA. Thirdly, on whether the CMA is going soft, especially regarding digital markets, the CMA has new powers under the Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Act and is already using them fervently for investigations into Google and Apple. The Government are committed to the independence of the CMA and making sure that we create an industry that is open to free and fair competition.